


Truths

by marvelandimagine



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Just Friends, Secret Identity, Truth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-05-12 07:02:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5657107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marvelandimagine/pseuds/marvelandimagine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Karen finds out about Matt's secret identity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Truths

Karen ran a hand through her thin blond hair, pushing some of it down over the side visible to passerby. She tried to keep her eyes fixed on her phone, trying to blend in with the scattered crowd moving along the New York City sidewalks. But it was hard. Any jostle, any sudden movement had her body tensed, heartbeat pounding with anticipation of the worst. Who knew who she was? Who was working for Union Allied? Who could she trust?

Lost in her own trepidation, Karen looked up with a jolt to realize that she had already passed the street she needed to turn down.

“Shit,” she thought frantically, nearly tripping in her pointed black pumps while she slid out of the flow of humans and doing a 180. She turned quickly down a dimly lit side street, every stride reducing the noise around her until the only audible sound was her breath and the clack of her heels.

Karen took a deep breath and shifted her bag on her shoulder nervously, listening for the familiar clink of the can of pepper spray she kept in there at all times. “No. No backing out. Somebody needs to do something.”

And then she could see it at the end of the street: a drab, grey building whose facade wias barely illuminated by the worn out looking sign on its front and side. The New York Bulletin. Many employees would have probably gone home by now, but Karen was betting that Ben Ulrich wasn’t one of them. This was her chance to talk to him fairly undetected, to see if he could help her to expose the corruption that had ruin and took the lives of multiple individuals already. How deep did this scandal run?

Karen quickened her pace as she walked next to the parking garage, her hand tightening instinctively around her phone. 9-1-1 was just waiting to be dialed. Just a few more steps. Just a few more steps.

No sooner did her fingers start to slacken their hold on her phone when an arm wrapped itself around her mouth and neck, dragging her sideways. Karen’s screams were muffled by her assailant and she flailed her purse back in an effort to land some sort of blow. With a satisfying thunk, the heavy purse made contact with the man’s chest. He loosened his hold on Karen for a second, letting her manicured nails swing up to dig fierce red lines into his forearm. He recoiled with a yell as she started to run toward the building, her fears realized. But she wasn’t fast enough. The man lunged at her waist, catching the light blue fabric of her short and clawing into her skin to bring her back to him. The man spun Karen around abruptly, landing a quick succession of punches to her face that send her reeling onto the ground.

She tasted metal, she tasted blood and sweat and fear. Her hands roved around the ground, desperately searching for anything she could use as a weapon. “Please,” she cried. “Don’t do this. I wasn’t doing anything.”

The man opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, a figure dressed in head to toe black came hurtling out of the garage before landing a swift kick to the assailant’s head.

Karen remained on the ground, stunned and horrified as she watched the two men fight. How could this man see? He had a black mask covering his eyes. And yet, he seemed to know where his adversary’s punches were before the landed, nimbly dodging and retaliating with tremendous accuracy and force.

Now in a choke hold, the assailant clutched back desperately, his hand scrabbling at air before making contact with the man’s mask and tugging it loose. The man in black squeezed harder on the man’s windpipe and he fell forward, unconscious. Karen stared up at her savior, the brief glimpse of his familiar face enough to fill her stomach with shock and disbelief before he quickly grabbed the mask of the ground and turned his back.

“Matt?” Karen choked out, her voice shaking. “Matt?”

The figure remained frozen, seemingly unsure of whether to run or to address the woman’s question.

With a resigned sigh, he let the mask drop before turning around.

It was him.

Karen clasped a hand over her mouth. “But, how, you-”

“Karen, I don’t have time to explain right now. We need to get you somewhere safe, OK? I’m taking you back to my apartment. We can talk there.” His voice didn’t even sound like Matt. It was brisk and tense, lacking the normal relaxed and tender tone that Karen had already grown to love.

He extended a gloved hand to her and she looked at it hesitantly.

“Karen. Please.” There it was, the warmth she was used to. She took his hand and stood up, his gentle voice, bringing tears to Karen’s eyes. “How is this possible? You’re some kind of … of vigilante? Matt, what the fuck, are you even blind?”

Matt smiled grimly. “Unfortunately, yes. But you don’t need eyes to be able to see. C’mon.” He tugged on her hand but squeezed it reassuringly. “I promise, I’ll explain what I can when we’re safe.” Matt started to lead her down a side alley and she followed.

Karen closed her eyes. “God, is anywhere safe?”

Matt stopped suddenly, and took a deep breath. He sounded years older than he was. Weary. But when he spoke, it was filled with a quiet assertiveness and confidence. A voice Karen knew was telling the truth.

“Karen, if you’re by my side, that’s one of the safest places you’ll ever be in this city. I won’t let anything happen to you.” He swallowed hard. “I won’t. Not you or Foggy or… ” He took another deep breath.

“Hey,” Karen said quietly. “I believe you. I mean without you … well we wouldn’t be having this conversation would we.”

Matt shook his head but smiled slightly as they continued to walk. “Looks like I’m not the only one trying to do some undercover justice around here. But you need to be careful, Karen. I’ve seen what these people … evil people in this city can do when people get in their way. It’s not called Hell’s Kitchen for no reason.”

Karen nodded silently. The two walked in silence, moving with the shadows that danced off the alley walls. Finally, they were there. Matt quickly unlocked his door re-locked it as Karen dropped onto the ground.

“So …. I guess we both have some explaining to do. But mostly you. I’m not the one out there like Batman taking out freaking bad guys with my bare hands. While being blind.”

Matt laughed sadly and dropped down next to her. “You really want to know everything?”

Karen nodded, her eyes wide with sincerity. She rubbed Matt’s shoulder gently. “You can talk to me. That’s what friends do.”

And that’s just what they did.


End file.
